1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a loading apparatus for loading a strip of a soft material, such as cotton, plastic, or paper, into a container.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conventional loading apparatus for continuously loading a soft material 20, such as cotton, plastic, or paper, into a series of containers 50 on a container conveyor 101 so as to cover material, such as tablets or capsules, in the containers 50. The loading apparatus includes a support 10 having upper and lower mounting plates 407, 408, a shaft 400 rotatably mounted on the upper and lower mounting plates 407, 408, a rotatable seat 40 mounted on the shaft 400, a pair of diametrically disposed sleeve members 404, 405 mounted on the rotatable seat 40, a supporting plate 300 mounted on the support 10 below the shaft 400 and defining a feed passage for supporting a strip 21 of the soft material 20 that is to be loaded into an adjacent one of the containers 50, and a feeding unit 30 for forming and carrying the strip 21 of the soft material 20 to the feed passage of the supporting plate 300. Each of the sleeve members 404, 405 is rotatable along with the shaft 400 between first and second angular positions. A center portion of the strip 21 of the soft material 20 on the supporting plate 300 is vertically aligned with the first angular position. The container conveyor 101 is mounted on the support 10 for carrying each container 50 to the second angular position. A first cylinder unit 402 is mounted on the support 10 below the supporting plate 300 at a position vertically aligned with the first angular position, and includes a first cylinder and a first piston that is telescopically extendable from the first cylinder for pushing the strip 21 of the soft material 20 into the sleeve member 404 when the sleeve member 404 is positioned at the first angular position and is vertically aligned with the first cylinder unit 402 and the center portion of the strip 21 of the soft material 20. A second cylinder unit 403 is mounted on the support 10 above the supporting plate 300 at a position vertically aligned with the second angular position, and includes a second cylinder and a second piston that is telescopically extendable from the second cylinder for pushing the strip 21 of the soft material 20 in the sleeve member 405 into the container 50 when the sleeve member 405 is positioned at the second angular position and is vertically aligned with the second cylinder unit 403. The feeding unit 30 includes two pairs of nipping-rollers 301, 302 for nipping a source of the soft material 20, and for forming and carrying the strip 21 of the soft material 20 to the supporting plate 300. The strip 21 of the soft material 20 is formed by tearing the source of the soft material 20 by stopping rotation of one of the pairs of the nipping-rollers 301 while continuing rotation of the other pair of the nipping-rollers 302.
The conventional loading apparatus is disadvantageous in that loading of the strip 21 of the soft material 20 from one of the sleeve members 405 into the container 50 via the second cylinder unit 403 is inconvenient and that the quality of covering provided by the strip 21 of the soft material 20 to the contents in the container 50 may be poor. Moreover, tearing of the source of the soft material 20 to form the strip 21 of the soft material 20 tends to slow down the whole process of loading the strip 21 of the soft material 20 into the container 50, and results in fine fibers of cotton that float in the air, thereby polluting the surrounding environment.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a loading apparatus that is capable of overcoming the aforesaid drawbacks of the prior art.
According to the present invention, there is provided a loading apparatus adapted to load a strip of a soft material into a container. The apparatus comprises: a support; a rotatable seat mounted rotatably on the support and rotatable about an axis relative to the support; a vertically extending tubular sleeve member mounted securely on the rotatable seat and rotatable about the axis along with the rotatable seat among first, second, and third angular positions which are angularly spaced apart from one another; a strip forming unit that is adapted to form a source of the soft material into a predetermined length of a strip of the soft material; a feeding unit mounted on the support, defining a horizontally extending feed passage below the sleeve member, and adapted to feed the source of the soft material through the strip forming unit and advance the strip of the soft material along the feed passage to a position vertically aligned with the first angular position; a first cylinder unit mounted on the support and having a vertically extending first cylinder and a first piston that is telescopically extendable from the first cylinder, the first cylinder being disposed below the feed passage at a position vertically aligned with the first angular position, the sleeve member being vertically aligned with the first cylinder when the sleeve member is turned to the first angular position so as to permit the strip of the soft material on the feed passage to be pushed into the sleeve member by the first piston when the first piston extends outwardly from the first cylinder into the sleeve member; a buffering unit mounted securely on the support and including a spring-biased abutting member that is disposed below the sleeve member at a position vertically aligned with the second angular position; a second cylinder unit mounted on the support and having a vertically extending second cylinder and a second piston that is telescopically extendable from the second cylinder, the second cylinder being disposed above the sleeve member at a position vertically aligned with the second angular position, the sleeve member being vertically aligned with the second cylinder and the spring-biased abutting member when the sleeve member is turned to the second angular position so as to permit the strip of the soft material in the sleeve member to be pressed into a compact form of the soft material by the second piston when the second piston extends outwardly from the second cylinder into the sleeve member and presses the strip of the soft material against the spring-biased abutting member; a container conveyor adapted to carry the container to the third angular position; and a third cylinder unit mounted on the support and having a third cylinder and a third piston that is telescopically extendable from the third cylinder. The third cylinder is disposed above the sleeve member at a position aligned with the third angular position. The sleeve member is vertically aligned with the third cylinder and the container when the sleeve member is turned to the third angular position so as to permit the compact form of the soft material in the sleeve member to be pushed into the container by the third piston when the third piston extends outwardly from the third cylinder through the sleeve member and into the container.